Tennessee Passes Resolution Urging All Counties to Post the Ten Commandments in Courthouses

ACLU lawyers to get a bug up their rump in 3…2…1:Guess what lawmakers want counties to post!Resolution affirms government ‘rooted in belief in Almighty God’June 04, 2011 – By Drew Zahn – WND

“Throughout America’s rich history,” asserts a Tennessee House Resolution that was passed 98-0 this week, “both the citizenry and their elected officials alike have deeply respected the Ten Commandments, its profound influence on the formation of American legal thought and its fundamental place in the history of law and government.”

Therefore, H.R. 107 declares, “This body hereby urges all Tennessee counties to allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in their respective courthouses.”

Rep. Todd Watson, author of the resolution, explains in its text, “It is imperative that these revered tablets continue to grace our public buildings, as reminders to this generation and the next of the vital role the Ten Commandments and its Author have played in shaping our great republic.”

Coupled with the more than 90 percent of Tennessee counties that have already adopted similar resolutions acknowledging the historical significance of the Ten Commandments, H.R. 107 marks a bold fusillade in the ongoing battle over America’s Christian heritage, particularly in the arena of constitutional law.

The battle became a national issue nearly a decade ago, when an Alabama judge, Roy Moore, faced pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups to remove a monument that Moore had constructed in the Alabama Supreme Court building because it featured the Ten Commandments.

Moore, who had previously beaten an ACLU lawsuit over posting the Commandments in his courthouse as a county circuit judge, nonetheless lost a second ACLU charge and was removed from his office as the state’s chief justice over the ensuing monument controversy.

The Tennessee House’s resolution urges its counties to likewise refuse to bow to similar pressure.

The full text of the resolution is as follows:

WHEREAS, in order to preserve domestic tranquility and protect the blessings of liberty, the foundation of any government must rest upon both law and morality; and

WHEREAS, the underpinnings of our system of government are rooted in a steadfast belief in Almighty God and the conviction that all morality, justice and unalienable rights derive from his gracious hand; and

WHEREAS, most of the political theorists embraced by our Founding Fathers, from Locke to Blackstone, espoused the Natural Law Theory, and as John Quincy Adams explained, “the laws of nature and of nature’s God … of course presupposes the existence of a God, the moral ruler of the universe and a rule of right and wrong, or just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and of government”; and

WHEREAS, the Founders’ desire to publicly acknowledge God as the source of America’s strength and direction is reflected in many of our founding documents and practices, from the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence to the National Motto and Thanksgiving Day celebrations; and

WHEREAS, since our nation’s birth, federal, state and local governing bodies have continued to invoke Divine guidance and celebrate the role religion has played in American life by issuing faith-based proclamations and opening each legislative session with prayer and supplication, a practice instituted by the First United States Congress and which has continued unbroken for more than two centuries; and

WHEREAS, throughout America’s rich history, both the citizenry and their elected officials alike have deeply respected the Ten Commandments, its profound influence on the formation of American legal thought, and its fundamental place in the history of law and government as a whole; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the historical importance of these sacred texts and even upheld Sunday closing laws, which originated in the Fourth Commandment’s exhortation to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy; and

WHEREAS, countless depictions of Moses and the Ten Commandments can be found throughout our nation’s capital as a testament to the Decalogue’s undeniable role in our country’s legal tradition, including the magnificent displays adorning the Supreme Court Building, the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building, the National Archives, the Department of Justice, the Ronald Reagan Building, the federal courthouse that is home to both the Court of Appeals and the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, 88 Tennessee counties have already adopted resolutions acknowledging the historical significance of the Ten Commandments and pledging to defend their right to display them; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that these revered tablets continue to grace our public buildings, as reminders to this generation and the next of the vital role the Ten Commandments and its Author have played in shaping our great republic; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 107th General Assembly of the state of Tennessee, that this body hereby urges all Tennessee counties to allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in their respective courthouses.

Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, is among those who celebrated the resolution’s passage:

“The Ten Commandments are part of the fabric of our country and helped shape our laws,” Staver said in a statement. “They are as much at home in a display about the foundations of law as stars and stripes are in the American flag. The Founding Fathers would be outraged that we are even debating the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments.”

21 Comments on “Tennessee Passes Resolution Urging All Counties to Post the Ten Commandments in Courthouses”

I for one am sick of the nation that lawyers judges and courts have created. To put it mildly, America sucks, and it is primarily the fault of the people I mentioned above. These law folks are in every aspect of our lives, they are in our kitchens, bedrooms and even in our frigging underwear. The way I see it the only way to save the law is to remove lawyers from the process altogether. I do believe that every American deserves a good Defense, That is the primary reason for lawyers in the first place. But today Americans find themselves under attack from the very lawyers created to defend them. The attack lawyer has warped our society into something that we cannot even recognize when compared to our founding ideals. Racism, groupism, discrimination and preferences are splitting our world wide open. The attack lawyer needs to go before they destroy us all. American law has become, fundamentally unAmerican.

I suspect that it will not end well for these people, as we have seen, the more control they try to impose on us, the world, etc, the more chaos they create and the less control they achieve. Take for example the global guvmint they still talk about, twenty years ago it was more achievable than it is today and each year the world becomes even harder to unite under any form of guvmint or law.

We need to begin a massive effort to reject intrusive and unAmerican law as a matter of everyday occurrence, its the only way. What are you waiting for Americans, how much will you allow them to control or demand from you, are you waiting for their approval, are we Americans or are we mice?!

Actually God gives you a choice, obey or not obey the commandments. Some might say that the Christian God is the original of the pro choice movement. Thou shalt not steal, or you may end up in court. You shall not murder lest you get caught and tried. If we stop right there it could be said that we live in a theocracy. Thou shalt not covet, no one is going to jail for that although it is going on all around us. The ten commandments, like anything else such as dietary recommendations, Americans are free to choose although some commandments are enforced by law. A theocracy is a place where you are not free to choose.

Islam’s source is the Qur’An. The Torah is the Hebrew Bible and does contain the ten commandments. I do agree with the thought but I believe if you’re going to be against Islam you need to be more accurate. I wish the muslims were more realistic about their own humanity and understood the Grace of God. Wars would cease if men knew and followed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and got off their high horse of judging sin. If all men did not sin, Christ would not have had to die.

Yes I realize that the general idea is to put a copy of the first 10 of the Commandments in American courthouses. However… I’ll point out that it wont do anyone any good until ALL Americans live like they are under Gods Holy Law and stop being Law breakers.

The way things are going you may find out the difference between the two systems. Like the different rules for men vs women. So far Christians have not forced you to do anything but remember, nothing on Earth is forever.

IF Jews and Christians lived under the Ten Commandments either by legal or moral means we should be killed for breaking those.

After all:

“1 I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ”

We would have to kill off all other religions since thier gods / goddesses arent from our God.

“2 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. ”

All those who make up statues and idols of gods for wicca and other religions would have to stop or die. SOME might even take this as far as outlawing movies and tv and photography.

“3 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. ”

ALL Americans would have to stop using God and Jesus as a swear word. Meanwhile allah, joseph smith , buddah and others would be homefree to use thier gods as a swear word all they want. (Sarc off)

“4 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. ”

All we Protestant Sunday keepers would now have to goto Church EVERY Saturday morning. Typically Sabbath would start Friday night and go through Saturday. Either way no work on the Sabbath… See Exodus 20:8-11, Ex 31:12-18.

“5 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. ”

ALL those who dishonor they Moms and Dads would be killed.

“6 Thou shalt not kill. ”

We would have to empty our prision system of all convicted murderers and kill them publically. (And save ourselves millions of tax payer dollars in the process.)

“7 Thou shalt not commit adultery. ”

All adulterers and adulteresses would be killed under the Law of Moses. Unless your Christian then we’re a little less scary. See Matthew 5:27-32.

That’s a place to start for all the confused law breakers in our society. The sabbath Christ spoke of was a “day” of rest that invoves the fact that He finished the work for us to be saved on the Cross. Every day is the sabbaoth from now until He returns. We are to worship Him at all times until He comes. Not just one day a week. Today is the day of rest.

I dont recall biblical calls of violence against commandment breakers, nor any long held theocratically influenced Christian culture invoking violence against commandment breakers. To suggest that Christian religious influence in court rooms would lead to such atrocity is slippery slope reasoning. Afterall, are not most current laws simply legalized and documented senses of morality & punishment for transgressors?

IMO, one doesnt have to adhere to a specific religion to have a moral sense and expectation of behavior from others.

FYI: islams sharia laws are based off of the following. quran, hadiths and sunnah and possibly more documents.

In other portions of this blog I have been skeptical of islams laws, culture, doctines and theology. My comments above about Theocratic laws are based off the experience that both when weighed against American law are bad for everyone.

I am personally against Theocratic law. The only Theocracy I will support is the one that Jesus will run when he comes back. We humans are wayyyyy to tetchy about running Theocratic governments. The failures of the Catholics and thier millions of murders and now moslem theocratics donot make me have hope that we as a ‘race’ can run a Theocratic Gov without murdering half this planet.

Yes indeed if moslems truly cared about the God of the Torah and Bible and dumped thier ideological nad Theological crapzoloa about allah. And started following after Jesus instead of muhammad this planet would be alot more peaceful. But again I hold no hope for thet to happen during the rest of my lifetime.

The Catholics held thier own Theocracy for hundreds of years and millions of people died as a result of it. At present I donot know of specific Protestant attrocity in regards to Theocracy but in light of Theonomy groups here in the USA I have no doubt that they would try to replace our current system with a Theocracy.

You are correct that we Christians are not Commanded or allowed to attack and kill sinners.

Our Lord Jesus did not Command we his followers to make up a Theocracy and to kill off sinners and law breakers. My point is that Gods Law… ALL 613 Commandments were to be kept by Israel under penalty of death. See my post here:

This is why Im admittedly firghtened of human run Theocracys because we end up murdering millions of people for the sake of Theology and ideology.

Yes we can agree that this world has alot of made up morality, ethics and so forth. But how will American society, morality and ethics change if we post the Ten Commandments in TN courtrooms when the bulk of this Country ignore tham anyway and don’t believe in God?

And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” Luke 20 24-25

Here is a novel idea. How about Caesars courts post a copy of the Bill of Rights before they start worrying about Heavenly things? But first we need Caesars schools to teach people how to read the language that the majority of those who fund Caesar through taxation utilize, English.

From the comments I have seen, these leave testimony to the vast ignorance brought about through State churches and the secular govt. schools. The keys to Americanism: the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, lock out religions which do not allow all ten of the Bill of Rights. The head of the ACLU admitted to me that she didn’t honor the 9th and 10th Amendments.

There is a reason why the Syllabus of Errors, issued by the Roman Catholic Church in the 18th century, refused to allow one to enjoy the Bill of Rights. There is a reason why immigrants to Louisiana had to relinquish their allegiance to foreign powers. This principle is also a part of every naturalization ceremony. NO MORE DUAL CITIZENSHIPS, NO MORE FOREIGN RELIGIOUS HEADS. Jesus is our Great and Merciful High Priest. Trinity vs. USA, 1892.

HR 107, passed unanimously, and in concurrence with Senate Proclamation, clearly shows that the people of the State of Tennessee are heavily oppressed by a handful of legal tyrants. But it will continue no more. My work, though unheralded by the higher-learning crowd, will go down in history as the mark of Americanism, that one person with God is a majority.

June Griffin, Author of the Ten Commandments Resolution
For God and Country